What effect does belief in life-after-death have on life in the here-and-now?  Listen to Steven Pinker, Harvard professor and an avowed atheist, as he weighs in on the subject:

[T]he doctrine of a life-to-come is not such an uplifting idea after all because it necessarily devalues life on earth. Just remember the most famous people in recent memory who acted in expectation of a reward in the hereafter: the conspirators who hijacked the airliners on 9/11. (Time Magazine 9/29/2007)

Now, Mr. Pinker, citing the 9/11 hijackers, suggests that belief in the life-to-come is dangerous because it “necessarily devalues life on earth”. However, experience shows that not every belief in the life-hereafter necessarily devalues life in the here-and-now Think Mother Teresa. Likewise, not every doubt in life-after-death necessarily causes one to value the lives of others on earth. Think Stalin or the notorious North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.  As a matter of fact, in the 20^th century alone more people were killed by governments committed to expunging belief in the life-to-come than in all wars throughout all history.  Considering this, it seems Mr. Pinker has a very selective “recent memory”.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.

~Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 NASB

I have noticed that people tend to like listening to a sermon when it agrees with what they think others should be doing, especially when they are confident that they, themselves, are doing it right. In other words, we tend to hear sermons through the window of our own prejudice.  Said another way, people tend to dislike sermons that point out areas in which they are falling short, especially if the sermon does not likewise make a spectacle of those areas in which they are confident of their own performance. But according to Jesus, such listening is not true listening.  Listening to sermons in order to confirm your own prejudice—to think well of yourself while looking down on others—is putting yourself above the Gospel.

You see, we love to point the finger at the failings of others and enjoy it when the preacher joins in. We say, “See, I knew I was right. Those people are wrong.” However, when the finger is pointed back at us—when we are on the hot seat—we quickly become upset, even sometimes accusing the preacher of “not being tough on sin”, which, of course, means, “not being tough on the sin of others”.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

~Luke 5:27-32 NASB

History shows us that people are especially dangerous when they have dismissed the thought of divine accountability for their actions.

Listen to the British historian Paul Johnson:

What is so notable about the twentieth century and a principal cause of its horrors is that great physical power has been acquired by men who have no fear of God and who believe themselves restrained by no absolute code of conduct. (quoted in Green, Is Christianity For Real p. 13)

Of course, great evil has also been committed by the religiously motivated, but such atrocities are dwarfed when compared to the atheistic regimes of the 20^th century.

What must we conclude then? Not merely that atheism causes people to do evil (as some of my religious friends would want to argue), nor that religion causes people to do evil (as some of my atheist friends would want to argue), but that mankind has a tendency towards evil. And when this tendency is not restrained by some sense of cosmic accountability (i.e. the fear of God and the conviction of the sanctity of human life), you had better look out! 

Something to think about from the “Kingdom Perspective”.

…as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
    There is none who understands,
        There is none who seeks God;
    All have turned aside,
      Together they have become useless;
      There is none who does good,
      There is not even one.”
    ”Their throat is an open grave,
        With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
        ”The poisoin of asps is under their lips”;
    ”Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
    ”Their feet are swift to shed blood,
    Destruction and misery are in their paths,
    And the path of peace they have not known.”
    ”There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God

~Romans 3:10-20 NASB

Religion can be deadly. There have been those that have done great harm because they feel that God has mandated them to do so. Some have even done great evil in the name of Christ, the Crusades of the Middle Ages perhaps being a chief example.

But history shows us that there is something much more dangerous than people acting in the name of God. It is people acting in the name of the absence of God. The evil committed by those who boast that they are under no cosmic accountability dwarfs the evil committed by the religiously motivated. Consider just the 20^th century:

• Soviet Russia, particularly under Stalin (30 million peasants killed in the Ukraine)
• Nazi Germany (6 million Jews exterminated and millions more killed as a result of their military aggression)
• Communist China (the fullness of which we are yet to see)
• The list could go on…

People are dangerous, but all the more so when they have dismissed the thought of divine accountability.

Something to think about from the “Kingdom Perspective”.

You felt secure in your wickedness and said,
    ’No one sees me,’
  Your wisdom and your knowledge,
    they have deluded you;
  For you have said in your heart,
    ’I am, and there is no one besides me.’

~Isaiah 47:10 NASB

In Western society, the source of stability for the tension between order and freedom has traditionally been found in the ballast of the Christian religion. The Founding Fathers understood the danger of the experiment that they started. Wisdom told them that if they took the power from the king and gave it to the people, there would be a real risk of anarchy. What would bring order if there were no king imposing force from the top down?

James Madison the guiding force behind the language of the Constitution, co-author of the Federalist Papers, and our fourth President answers: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.”

And now listen to John Adams, one of the most influential of the Founding Fathers and the second President of the United States: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

But if according to our Founding Fathers the government cannot produce this morality and religious sentiment that is the necessary ground of liberty, what can?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

~2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NASB

In our society there is a tension between freedom and order. As order goes up there is a tendency for freedom to go down. As freedom goes up there is a tendency for order to go down. In the words of the late popular philosopher Eric Hoffer, “When the yearning for freedom destroys order, the yearning for order will destroy freedom.”

At least part of the reason for this instability is a rather impoverished notion of freedom. What’s that? The late historian Jacques Barzun summarized it well: “the right to do one’s own thing.” This definition, bequeathed to us by the Enlightenment, is the prevailing idea of freedom in our society. But notice how narrow this notion is. It leaves no room for social cohesion; it’s purely individualistic and narcissistic. Now, considering the limits of the state, this definition may be the best any government can do. But, for any society to survive it needs something more than this to give it cohesion and order.

What we need is a principled freedom, a freedom that grows out of desire to do more than satisfy one’s own “instincts or whims” (Solzhenitsyn). As Benjamin Franklin said, “[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

But if this “virtue” cannot come from the government, where does it come from?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.

~Proverbs 14:34 NASB

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the influential Soviet dissident and arguably the greatest writer of the 20^th century, died recently.  It is worth remembering this impressive thinker.

Prior to being exiled from the East, he had looked to the Western World as a place of spiritual vitality. But arriving in America in 1974 he was sorely disappointed by the West’s unbridled individualism, rampant consumerism and inability to sacrifice for anything of ultimate value.

In his Harvard commencement address of 1978 he takes aim at the “state of spiritual exhaustion” crippling our culture by challenging our impoverished notion of “freedom”:

…in early democracies, as in American democracy at the time of its birth, all individual human rights were granted because man is God’s creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility…. Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual could be granted boundless freedom simply for the satisfaction of his instincts or whims.

Solzhenitsyn is right. There is no true freedom without requisite responsibility. True liberty doesn’t alleviate us from fulfilling our responsibilities but rather enables us to fulfill them.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

~Galatians 5:13-15 NASB

This past week Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died.  Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer and arguably the most significant and influential of the Soviet dissidents. Many feel that his books exposing life in the prison camps laid the groundwork for the Soviet Empire’s eventual internal collapse (all apologies to those who think it was Ronald Reagan’s asking Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”).

He himself had been a resident in one of the Soviet prison camps. What was his crime? Being critical of the then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, referring to him as “the man with the mustache” (okay, Stalin was a fairly sensitive individual!).

Anyways, in 1974 he was exiled from the Soviet Union and eventually made his home in Cavendish, VT, where he resided until his return to Russia in 1994.  I remember the first time I drove through Cavendish, VT—I felt a sense of awe that for two decades one of the greatest writers of 20^th century called Cavendish, VT home.  Call me weird…

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine says of him: “In terms of the effect he has had on history, Solzhenitsyn is the dominant writer of the 20th century. Who else compares?”

But Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn also had a problem. The problem with Solzhenitsyn was that he was the darling of the Western intelligentsia, until he actually came to the West.  He left the East with certain expectations as to the vitality of the Western world. But to his amazement he found the West to be more spiritually hollow and off-course than the East.

His Harvard commencement address of 1978 lays out his assessment fairly clearly and succinctly. I recommend it. Whether you agree with his assessment or not, you’ll find it very thought-provoking regarding the state of the modern world.

So he was one who found himself to be largely out of step of the rest of the world. This caused many not only in the East but also in the West to back away from him.  Many in the West were skeptical of His critique of the West’s unbridled individualism and consumerism. And worse, in his critique he often came across as a wild-eyed nut, complete with patriarchal beard and austere demeanor.

Upon his return to Russia He tried to do a talk show—I suppose partly to improve his public image—but the program didn’t quite catch on. He was just not the TV-type. Here’s the New York Times’ take on it:

Mr. Solzhenitsyn started appearing on television twice a week as the host of a 15-minute show called “A Meeting With Solzhenitsyn.” Most times he veered into condemnatory monologues that left his less outspoken guests with little to do but look on…. Mr. Solzhenitsyn came across “as a combination of Charlie Rose and Moses.” After receiving poor ratings, the program was canceled a year after it was started. (NY Times 8-4-2008)

I find this description rather humorous.

Now, why is Solzhenitsyn pertinent to us as we consider the difficult work of thinking and living Christianly?  One of the things that Solzhenitsyn lamented about the West is its lack of discipline and self-constraint.  He was critical of the fragmented and narcissistic tendencies of Western individualism. In his view, if the West had any native spirituality, it was very lop-sided on the private, inner, freewheeling and self-aggrandizing side of the equation. It left very little room for discipline, suffering and sacrifice.

Indeed, the religion that you find in modern America is a religion of unbridled self-expression and self-help, instead of self-denial. Only in the West could “having your best life now” be considered a Christian spiritual goal. Only in modern Western civilization could “self-esteem” be confused with a “New Reformation”. 

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

~2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB

We live in a time when the perennial tensions between a sacred vision of society and a secular vision of society are heightened.   Here’s something to consider:  

There is a problem with a totally secular society:  It leaves people with the notion that the only reality is the here-and-now, which seems to encourage people to do really dangerous things. Think of the excesses of Soviet Russia or Communist China.

On the other hand, there is arguably a corresponding problem with a totally sacred society:  It leaves people with the notion that all that matters is the here-after, which seems to encourage people to do really dangerous things.  Think of the excesses of the Middle Ages or the Middle East.           

It seems to me that the answer to this dilemma is the secular-sacred tension inherent in Gospel.  In Jesus, the Sacred became Secular—the Eternal became Temporal—the Word became Flesh. According to the Gospel, the secular is real and it matters. But, it is not all there is.  If we understand this properly, it raises the value of all of life without making an obsession of anything, but God himself.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.

~Colossians 2:8-10 NASB

The Scriptures make it clear that the church is to be the embodiment of the word of God in the world.  This is what Jesus meant when he spoke of the church as light of the world in Matthew 5:  “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl…. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 15:14, 16)

The church when she has been at her best has understood this and acted.  We are not just to “do church” but be the church.  This means that we are not merely to market the Gospel but embody the gospel.  When we do this, the Gospel will be best “marketed”.  This is not to say that we are not to speak the Gospel.  If we seek “be” the Gospel and not also speak it, we do not truly embodying it.  If we seek to speak it but not embody it, then we are just noise.

How are you involving your self in your local church, so that you and your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are more fully embodying the Gospel? By definition, life in the Gospel cannot be done alone. 

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

~Matthew 5:13-16 NASB

One of the concerns of many contemporary Christian thinkers is the dumbing-down of truth.  Nowhere is this clamoring for the lowest common denominator more alarming than in the realm of theology. 

Listen to T. S. Elliot:  “The refinement or crudity of theological and philosophical thinking is itself, of course, one of the measures of the state of our culture; and the tendency in some quarters to reduce theology to such principles as a child can understand or a Socinian [i.e. a Unitarian] accept, is itself indicative of cultural debility.” (T. S. Eliot, “Notes toward the Definition of Culture”)

For centuries theology was considered the Queen of the Sciences—the glue that held all the other disciplines of knowledge together. Today, however, theology is often disdained and can hardly find a place at the table.  What is most alarming is not that we see this attitude in the society at large—one would expect to see it there. Rather it is seeing its prevalence in many churches. Many argue: “Let’s not get bogged down in theological debate. Let’s just love Jesus together.” However, if we are to love Jesus, we need to know who He is. And this, I’m afraid, is a theological question.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

~Matthew 16 (NASB)

You no doubt have heard the expression: Let your conscience be your guide. However, can your conscience always be trusted as a reliable guide of what God is telling you?

Indeed, the conscience is a vehicle by which God tells us something of Himself, but it is only as good as the information that has been programmed into it. It does tell us that justice is real, that there is an ultimate Judge before whom we must stand. Just as our conscience is continually judging our attitudes and actions, so someday our lives will be judged before God.

However, we should be very careful not to extrapolate too far from here; our conscience is not necessarily always accurate. All clocks give evidence to the existence of time; yet not all clocks accurately tell what time it is. The accuracy depends on whether they have been set properly and whether or not their mechanisms are in proper working order. In other words, not all clocks can take a licking and keep on ticking. So too our conscience. If abused, it will produce inaccurate judgments.

How about your conscience? Is it set properly, according to the law of God?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

~Romans 2:14-16 NASB

Many people are asking the question, “Is God still speaking nowadays?” Many who wonder about this are looking for an audible voice, a major miraculous sign in which God could “prove” Himself? In light of this, it is interesting that Jesus repeatedly condemned such clamoring for a sign, saying, “A wicked and perverse generation seeks for [such] a sign”. At first, this statement of Jesus seems harsh. Isn’t the seeking of a sign just a genuine request for assurance that we believe and obey the right thing? Then, what’s the reason for Jesus’ strong rebuke?

Well, there is a basic problem with such a request. It assumes that we always act properly on what we know to be true. In other words, “Just tell me what is true and right and I’ll act upon it.” But nothing could be further from the truth. For example, we certainly know that we should put others first and treat others the way we like to be treated. But do we really do this? If we are honest, the answer is no. Some of us may even be flattering ourselves: “Well, at least I do it better than most people I know.” But even such flattery, far from acquitting us, actually increases our condemnation, showing our insistence to judge ourselves better than others.

You see, our problem in knowing God’s voice is not primarily in His providing proof, but in our acting on what he has already made clear. It is not in His proving that He has spoken, but in our proving that we are truly listening.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

~Matthew 12:38-42 NASB

Some time ago, I was talking to a guy who has a degree in sub-nuclear physics. He was explaining to me the complexity of design in the universe at that level. He said that after studying it for some time, he was driven to acknowledge that we live in a universe that has an intelligent designer. In other words, there must be a God.

Such a conclusion is not surprising when you consider the biblical understanding of the world. All that is has come into existence by the intention and design of an orderly God. Genesis tells us that this God spoke and the world came into order. The book of Hebrews tells us that he continues to speak, upholding the universe by the word of his power. According to the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians: Christ “is before all things and in him all things hold together.”

Any scientists out there? Here’s my advice. Diligently continue to investigate and ponder the mysteries of the creation. God delights when people admire his work.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth…

~Genesis 1:1 NASB

The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty…

~Isaiah 24:5-6 NASB

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard…

~Colossians 1:19-23 NASB

The “big story” of history can be summed up in three words:  Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction.  In the beginning God constructed the world to display his beauty.  Then along came sin. We rebelled against God’s beauty, inaugurating an age of destruction and falleness.  But, thank God, this isn’t the end of the story.  God is now reconstructing the world in and through one man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to this description by Neil Plantinga, president of Calvin Theological Seminary:  “We are now fallen creatures in a fallen world. The Christian gospel tells us that all hell has broken loose in this sorry world but also that, in Christ, all heaven has come to do battle.  Christ the warrior has come to defeat worldly power, to move the world over onto a new foundation, and equip a people—informed, devout, educated, pious, determined people—to follow him.” 

What a great description Plantinga gives us of the church! 

Now to me here’s the amazing thing:  The Bible tells us that such a reconstruction effort is not only possible but guaranteed.  According to the prophets a new heaven and a new earth will be a reality. Wow! Praise be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

~Colossians 1:16-18 NASB

Central to the message of Jesus is repentance.  It is not only the subject of His first recorded sermon (“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand’), but also the punch line of the Apostle Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost (“Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of your sin”). So, what is repentance? Listen to this thought-provoking statement from the late author C.S. Lewis:

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track, and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor—that is the only way out of a hole.  This process of surrender, this movement full astern, is what Christians call repentance.” 

Indeed, Lewis has it right.

The message of Jesus doesn’t just call for us to do a little better with our lives, but it produces in us a completely new life.  So let me ask you a question. When you think of living the Christian life do you envision a life of self-improvement or completely starting over?  In the Gospel, God is both calling us and producing in us a new life.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

~Jesus in Mark 8:34-36 NASB

Do you want to live as a Christian?  Then expect to be “unorthodox” relative to the world around you. For sure, at points the Gospel will run alongside society, but at other points expect it to cut across the grain.  You see, no culture has a corner on truth; all cultures must be judged by truth at some point.  

This fact can be seen in the way that the Gospel processes the tension between pessimism and hope in our culture. Listen to popular novelist John Updike as he talks about the realism of the Gospel versus naïve sentimentality.  In the Gospel “we are freed from certain secular illusions and monochromatic tyrannies of hopeful thought. The bad news can be told full out, for it is not the only news.”

Later, he continues: “To be Christian in this day and age, as in the time of imperial Rome, is to be unorthodox, and [people] should look elsewhere for the consolations of conventional sentiment and the popular…religion of optimism.”

Indeed, the Gospel allows us to get real—to face both the disappointing depravity we see in ourselves and the eternal hope we find in Christ. A truly Christian perspective should allow us to face reality and not hide from it, to take the good new along with the bad.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

~Romans 12:2-3 NASB

You know you’ve come across the genuine article of Christianity when you find people that are genuinely committed to each other in spite of otherwise divisive differences.

Listen to biblical scholar Don Carson of Trinity Divinity School: “What binds us [as Christians]…is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together because they have all been loved by Jesus himself.” 

The Gospel produces something that the world cannot. The world naturally congregates according to the principle of “birds of the same feather flock together”.  However, in the gospel a genuine universal humanity is created, so that birds of remarkably different feathers begin to flock together. 

Does your faith in Christ make you want to love other Christians, regardless of how different they are from you?  Such love is not only unusual but also the mark of a person captivated by the Gospel.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

~Galatians 3:26-29

Have you ever found yourself thinking: “The thing that bothers me about Christianity is it’s so narrow, and I don’t want to be a narrow person. I want to be an open-minded person”?  If you’ve ever thought this, let me assure you you’re not alone. Many have struggled with the objection that Christianity is narrow.  After all, how can there only be one way to God?

So let’s evaluate this claim.  There are essentially three ways to address this objection. The first is that the claim is true: the gospel is indeed narrow. Indeed, Jesus claims to be the only one who died as a substitute for our sin—the only one through whom we can receive divine forgiveness. But is “narrow” the best way to describe this claim?  I don’t think so. This claim of the gospel can be either true or false, but to say that it is narrow makes as much sense as claiming that “2 + 2=4” is narrow.  The second possibility is that the gospel you are considering is not the gospel at all, but a cheap imitation. Sadly, there are such imitations in our pervasively “pseudo-Christian” society. We find those that know and promote aspects of the gospel but miss the very heart and power of it.  The third and final possibility is that the gospel is not narrow but rather your perspective on it is, leaving you with a caricatured image of Christ.

My advice: Don’t be fooled by such caricatures.  Rather, find the real thing by investigating the historical claims that we find in the New Testament.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

~Ephesians 1:9-10

It has been my observation that nothing makes one more accepting and truly open-minded than the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I find that it has a way of compelling me not only to evaluate the prejudice of others, but more importantly, to evaluate my own prejudice. The former is relatively easy; the latter is much more difficult.

Because we are finite creatures we are confined to look at life through a very narrow window.  And because we tend to be fearful creatures, we tend to look at the world through a very self-protective window.  But such windows distort our view of reality. 

But this is exactly where the gospel comes in. The gospel liberates us from this narrow perspective, by not only bringing to us the perspective of the infinite God, but also assuring us that we are in His loving hands.

By this, I am not only required but also enabled (liberated!) to look at life from a different perspective—to consider the perspective of others as just as important as my own.

If the gospel is true, nothing could be more mind-expanding. It is the gospel of God, after all, and what could possibly be bigger than Him?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

~Philippians 2:3-4 NIV